Well we’ve been up to quite a lot since last time I posted, I received a letter from British Dressage to tell me I’d qualified for the Winter Championships, great news, first goal for this year achieved, big thumbs up for Mr G & I……woohoo!!
We’ve been training hard & it paid off when we did a medium test at the start of April, without stirrups, and achieved 62% way better than our last affiliated score so we’re moving up, I can’t believe I’m doing medium tests now, if you’d told me this time last year I’d be doing medium tests in 12 months I would have thought you were pulling my leg, but here I am & getting a decent score too, might give myself a pat on the back!! Still loads to learn though & Mr G is certainly teaching me, I still need to find the button for his medium trot, but I’m managing to get him more forward now, especially without my stirrups. Jimmy & I went away at the start of April too, we went to Bishop Burton to compete at a Hickstead qualifier, we got a bit lost on the way there & I didn’t have as much time as I’d have liked to warm up for my first test, I was expecting a score under 60% but was pleasantly surprised when I got 65.71% I got the exact same mark in the second test too, nobody can say we’re not consistent.
So, we went to Hartpury last week, I drove the trailer myself, it was a pretty long drive, but it was straight forward & we got there without any hiccups. Mr G settled well in his stable & we took ourselves to a premier inn for an early night. It was great because I wasn’t on until the afternoon so we had all morning to get ready. Mr G’s previous, previous owner text me to see where we were & came to see him, she hadn’t seen him for years & was a bit emotional which was lovely, it was so nice to meet her & learn some more about his history. It was then time to warm up so I went to the arena & Anamour was being a bit lazy, having me on. As soon as it was time for our test though he was ready to get in there & strutt his stuff, the test started well, but Mr G is a bit too clever & knows his test, so the halt rein back didn’t go to plan, he went straight into rein back before I had a chance to establish the halt & then I threw more marks away by kicking him forward into trot & it should’ve been walk…..d’oh!! I really enjoyed it though & even managed to breathe all the way round, it makes life much easier when you breathe!! My marks from both judges were quite different though, judge at C, who I later learned was from Norway & will be judging at Greenwich, placed me joint fourth with over 64% but the judge at B placed me sixth with over 58% so I ended sixth with 61.55% I was happy that I got over 60% but angry with myself for throwing away marks. I then got a call from the lady who I bought Mr G from, she was at Hartpury too as she was competing the next day, there were more tears & Mr G definitely recognised her, its nice to know he can bring people to tears, it shows how much he has been loved. We left Hartpury that day & took Mr G to his temporary home until he can return to the island when the ferry comes back into service, he has a lovely big stable & a paddock to go out in. We got the boat home the next day, its strange being home without him & not having to muck him out & feed and ride him every day, I miss him. I’m going back over on Monday to see him though & compete on Tuesday at a Hickstead qualifier, and we’re also going to a Lee Pearson clinic, which I’m looking forward to. I’ll let you know how we get on.
